Throughout history, women have worn special occasion dresses including wedding dresses and other formal evening dresses. These dresses are often uniquely stylized. Special occasion dresses are made with one of many unique necklines such as scoop, V-neck, sweetheart neck, halter or strapless, making it virtually impossible for the wearer to wear a standard brassiere. Moreover, special occasion dresses may have low or no back material, again making it impossible for the wearer to wear a standard brassiere. With these styles, a standard women's brassiere cannot be worn with the dress because the shoulder straps and/or the back strap of the brassiere will show. Moreover, these special occasion dresses often have fuller skirts and are made of heavy material making special occasion dresses considerably heavier than most ladies apparel.
Because of the unique styles and heavier materials of special occasion dresses, clothing designers have attempted to deal with the problem of achieving figure control in the midriff and abdomen areas, as well as bust support with bodices that have a built-in brassiere in one form or another. The constructions of the earlier bodices were different from and inferior to that of the present invention.